Revisiting India - Blog Post 3

Jaisalmer: The City in the Desert

We shared a cabin with two lovely Indians on our train from Delhi to Jaisalmer. Boye talked a lot with them, but I was paying less attention as I was gradually feeling a little worse. I assumed I had caught a cold while on the train and didn't feel too great. Boye had told the conductor that I was sick, and the conductor was so worried, he called a local doctor to come to one of the train stations on our way. The whole train had to wait 10 minutes extra in the middle of Rajasthan somewhere for this doctor to take some tests on me and then give me medicine for the influenza virus he decided I had caught. What he gave me is the most effective medicine anyone ever gave me to cure influenza. I was up and running just 2 days later. Black magic pills are what I call that miracle drug! Both Boye and I were kind of worried what all this would cost us. We both laughed heartily when we learned the whole ordeal would cost us the astonishing sum of 110 rupees (1.2€) total for everything.

The hotel Boye and I stayed in.

Boye and I were quite tired when we arrived in Jaisalmer. It was very early in the morning, the sun hadn't risen yet. We didn't know what the guy Omer had told us would pick us up looked like, all Omer said was "he's quite the character, and don't worry he'll find you". We stood in the half dark, waiting for about 5 minutes when Boye made me aware of a typically short Indian walking around the train station asking loudly to strangers, "Aksal, Boyye?" When he saw us, he walked over to us with a wide smile and said, "ah, Aksal, Boye!" We drove away in Polo's car to his small but very inviting hotel. We enjoyed all the time we spent with Polo the next few days a lot. Ex-Bollywood star and happy go sing a song every morning and day, as it was his character. I came to really like this first Indian we got to hang out with in the state of Rajasthan in his humble abode in the fortress town of Jaisalmer, a place hidden away deep inside the Rajasthani desert.

Picture one of Boye on top of Polo's hotel, while the other pictures are outside fort gate, main palace building inside and one from the ramparts on the edge inside the Jaisalmer Fort.

Jaisalmer is nothing like anywhere I have ever been before or since that time. It's a town with 110,000 inhabitants give or take. The town was built around a very well fortified fort, located near the biggest desert oasis for many miles in any direction. As I said in an earlier blog post, it almost looks a little fantastical, almost like something out of a fairytale, such as Arabian Nights. The people of Jaisalmer seemed very drifty. Our first morning we met a 16 year old boy right by the entrance of Jaisalmer Fort. He eagerly wanted to tell us about the place and show us around. We went with him as he explained the story of how 300 different families lived within the walls of the fort (with a total population of ca. 1500 individuals). The families were sorted in quarters based on their caste. The view from the fort was spectacular. In every direction you could see the traditional sandstone brick-houses of the Jaisalmerians clinging themselves to the oasis greenery around the fort. Every side of the fort is surrounded by the small city, and past the city in the distance you can see the edge of the desert that surrounds the whole city.

I also want to point out how great the food Polo’s wife made us was. Polo was one of the most friendly and also most hospitable hosts we had in any hotel we stayed in during our 3 months adventure in India. The hotel was properly clean, the hotel room was of a high standard. We received a room with a large double bed and a good bathroom. These comforts should not be taken for granted when booking a hotel in India. Many hotels are terribly neglected and don't live up to the hygiene standards many Europeans have come to expect. It was also lovely of Polo to bring Boye and I along on a nice trip around the Jaisalmer Oasis lake in his vehicle, and then he bought us dinner later. He refused to take any money from us for both the trip to the lake and for dinner in the restaurant. I grew very fond of Polo, and felt remiss towards myself that we had already booked our travels onwards, and couldn’t stay longer with him and his family.

We also visited the Jaisalmer Fort Museum after our guide had finished showing us around the fortress grounds, the museum is also located in the area found within the fortress walls.

Such as is common, apparently, in Jaisalmer Polo and his family owned a cow that roamed around the streets in one of the many gangs of cows occupying open spaces across the desert city. They also had a few chickens in their backyard, which is also not uncommon in this place. It’s quite incredible I would say, how the Jaisalmerians cling on to life next to their oasis lake and surrounded by the inhospitable Thar desert.

Boye, Polo and I at the Jaisalmer Lake (their oasis life line, in the Thar desert area).

The next day Polo dropped us off near the Safari jeep that was gonna bring us out on a desert safari. Riding in jeeps in the hot desert is actually kind of nice. It blew cool wind through the jeep, and no aircon was necessary. First stop was the Ghost Village I had a picture of in Blog Post 1 - Link Here. The place was abandoned, but for a few international tourists, such as ourselves. Our fellow tourist companions (one UK citizen and a German couple) and us returned to the jeep and headed further West towards the Pakistani border. We stopped in a cute tiny village, and were told here we were now gonna borrow some of the local villager’s camels to ride out in the most sandy part of the desert, to see the desert sunset, rumoured to be the most beautiful sunset in the world.

First Carousel: Two German tourist in front of us in our jeep and Boye in Ghost village West of Jaisalmer.Second Carousel: Goats at the closest oasis to the village were we got our camels.

My camel was quite friendly after I said hello to him how I generally say hello to mammals, gently and genuinely. The ride was quite nice, much easier than riding horses. I was riding with the UK woman, Laura in between me and Boye, and the trip to our camp gave me ample time to bond with her. The first night in the desert was night. Our guides/guardians made us a decent meal with their gas burner and then the jeep suddenly arrived with a bunch of booze some of us had ordered. We drank the Whiskey and one of the local villagers got mightily drunk, he danced and sang some song in Marwari (a local language). One of the more sober of our guides said he was talking about picking fruits in the dessert or something. We had a lovely evening around the fireplace that our guides and guardians had built for us.

Next day two of the guides went with Laura, Boye and I deeper into the desert (our camp place was not too far from the village). It was quite hot in the sun after a while despite it only being early March. We got water for food cooking at a desert well, then the camels picked up their pace as we headed deeper into the Thar desert. We stopped near the top of a hill with large sand dunes surrounding us in most directions. That sunset was truly memorable, a lifetime memory.

A picture of us somewhere between camp one and two. A local well built for the camels to drink from. Also a few other pictures from day two of the desert safari.

Three pictures from the evening on day two. We slept in the sand dunes near where we watched the sunset. I remember Boye and I staring at the stars talking for a while, before falling asleep. It was truly a serene experience. Last pic is of our young guide on the morning of day 3.

Next morning we headed back to Jaisalmer. Polo was in a good mood when we arrived in the middle of the day, and he wanted to have a party. Polo brought out some whiskey, and Laura (whom we had befriended), Boye and I started drinking with him. Polo put on some really interesting Indian Trance Techno, and we got in a good mood. We were dancing and drinking, and had a great time. There were no worries in the world, and we were all having a good time, until Omer called and reminded us how early the next morning our train left Jaisalmer. Polo and Laura are the two that stand out to me the most, out of those we met in Jaisalmer, but Polo’s best friend, that young boy guide from the fort, someone I talked to up on the city viewing hill and also our desert safari guides, are peoples and memories I still cherish often, still now 1.5 years later. Next our travels go to Jodhpur, Rajasthan, the blue city. Have a good day my dear readers.

Laura and Polo at Sunset Hill, Jaisalmer.

I tried leaving an interactive map below linked from Google Maps, to show the city of Jaisalmer. Give me feedback on whether you like it or not for future blog posts here: Contact Page

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